St. John Christian Methodist Episcopal CHURCH
2810 Stanton Road SE
Washington, DC 20020
Rev. Dr. Wardell Bonner, Pastor
2011-2012 BIBLE STUDY
“The Essential Church: Growing Spiritually Through Prayer and the Word!”
From the Bible Study Course Staff…
Welcome to the Saint John Christian Methodist Episcopal Church’s Bible Study Course for the 2011-2012 Conference Year! Our Theme is “The Essential Church: Growing Spiritually through Prayer and the Word!”
We have included many of the suggestions that you requested for study during the 2010-2011 Conference Year; and everything that we say and do will embrace our mission to empower you to know, experience, and apply your spiritual gifts in the Body of Christ.
You might be different from many of the people around you, for you hunger to find out why you are here, and are interested in what the Bible really teaches. You are one of the people who genuinely want to learn more. Perhaps you are one of those whom God is now calling, who will remain faithful to Him even in this sin-sick society (Matthew 22:14; Revelation 17:14).
The 15 lessons of this course were developed by the Bible Study Course Staff who desire to present God’s truth in a fresh and lively way to help you understand the power of “The Essential Church: Growing Spiritually through Prayer and the Word.” But we cannot do your work for you. Unless you open your Bible and look up for yourself the scriptures we will study, you will be unable to prove for yourself the precious truths of the Bible. God wants His people to be like the Bereans, who “received the word with all readiness and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11).
The format of this course is simple. Though there are many topics we could have chosen for this course of study, we have chosen topics that we hope will center you to “die to the flesh” and “grow in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16-26). The focus topics are as follows:
- Are We Living in the Last Days? – (What are the Bible keys for identifying what is really the end-time and are those keys descriptive of our day?)
- An Overview of the Bible - (Get acquainted with key people and major historical events of the Bible in an easily understood chronological format.)
- What Prayer Is and Isn’t – (Learn various definitions of prayer, their upsides and downsides, and the essence of prayer.)
- The Prayer to Begin All Prayer – (Learn about the greatest resource [the Bible] and the greatest teacher [Jesus] on prayer and the most important prayer of all time: The Lord’s Prayer)
- The Greatest School of Prayer (Why go to church to pray?)
- Finding Your Rhythm (Importance of establishing a prayer routine)
- ACTS Now (learn one method of prayer that is easy to remember & practice)
- Fasting and Prayer (Learn how this ancient practice is as timely as ever for enriching your spiritual life)
- Healing Prayer (Learn how prayer can heal both physically and psychologically)
- Handling the Seven Distractions (Find out how to deal with the main distractions that keep people from prayer)
- When God Doesn’t Seem to Answer (Learn what it means when your prayers don’t seem to be answered)
- Dealing with Doubts: No God – (Discover how to work through periods of prayer when God doesn’t even seem to be around).
- Praying the Psalms (How to use the Psalms in your personal prayer life)
- Praying the Gospels (How to use the four Gospels in your personal prayer life)
- Knowing My Spiritual Gifts and Using Them in the Body of Christ! (Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 & 1 Corinthians 12:28, Ephesians 4:11)
This may sound like a lot of work, but the Bible explains that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). When you complete the course you will receive a certificate; but you will receive something far more valuable—the reward of God’s Truth, and the tools for applying it in your life. What could be more rewarding, and more worthy of your time and attention?
So pick up your Bible and two or three other translations (one for fast reading, one for more serious study, and one for comparison), pen or pencil, your notebook, Bible Concordances, Bible Atlases, Dictionaries and Commentaries, and other tools that you will need and begin exploring God’s Word with us. We hope and pray that you will approach this course with zeal, as you deepen your understanding of God’s precious gift to humanity—His Son, Jesus Christ as revealed to us in THE HOLY BIBLE and through THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Yours truly,
Coordinators/Teachers
Dr. Bester Joyce Bonner
Alpheus K. Chadwick
Rev. Shirley Thomas
Support Staff/Teachers
LaKeisha Adekoya (youth)
Ellen Chadwick
Candace Dula (youth)
Sadie Ficklin
Beverly Smith
Pastor Wardell Bonner
1. Objectives:
The Bible Study participants will:
- Gain a clear and personal understanding of God’s Word and the power of
Prayer in daily living.
- Assess the growth of your personal understanding of the Word and your
prayer life.
- Stretch and grow spiritually by utilizing your Spiritual Gift(s)
- Apply what you have learned in your daily relationships to God and others.
2. Teaching/Learning Methods
- Lectures
- Collaborative Learning Spin off Activities
- Large & Small Group Interaction
- Buzz Groups
- Role Play
- Individual Hands on Activities
- Quizzes
3. Teaching/Learning Resources
- Prayerful Heart and Open Mind (Psalm 51:10)
- Holy Bible (various translations)
- Bible Concordances, Atlases, Dictionaries and Commentaries
- Notebook (participant)
- Pens/Pencils
- Flip Chart
- Markers
- Media Software –Power Point, CDs, DVDs, Social Media & Internet
- LCD Projector
- Holy Bible
- Tomorrow’s World Bible Study Course, Lesson 2. Are We Living in the
Last Days? Living Church of God, Charlotte, NC, 2011
- The Bible Overview Participant Guide, The Bible Overview, Hoffman
Estates, IL, 2001
- Basic Text: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding the Bible. Mark
Galli & James S. Bell, Jr. Alpha Penguin Books, Indianapolis, 2004
- Handouts for the 15 Bible Study Topics (Just in Time – [JIT])
- Evaluation Instrument
4. Evaluation: Formative & Summative
- Topical Presentations (N=15) – Did we achieve our Objectives
- Ongoing - What will I do with what I’ve learned in my daily relationship with God and people?
- Summative (closing) Evaluation
QUARTERLY SCHEDULE
Fall Quarter (September-December 2011)
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| 2011-2012 COURSE OF STUDY |
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Spring Quarter (January-March 2012) |
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| - The Prayer to Begin All Prayer |
| - The Greatest School of Prayer |
| - Finding Your Rhythm |
| - ACTS Now |
| - Fasting and Prayer
- Healing Prayer
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| Spring Quarter (April-June 2012) |
· Topics 10-15 |
| - Handling the Seven Distractions |
| - When God Doesn’t Seem to Answer |
| - Dealing with Doubts: No God |
| - Praying the Psalms |
| - Praying the Gospels |
| - Knowing My Spiritual Gifts and Using Them in the Body of Christ!
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ON THIS EXCITING JOURNEY
Þ Be responsible for your own comfort.
Þ Take responsibility for your own learning.
Þ Stretch where you can.
Þ Respect other participants’ opinions and insights.
Þ Share and become involved
Suggested Reading/Research Materials
(Reading/Viewing/Listening)
Internet Sites
The following Internet sites will allow you to interact with others in terms of prayer as well as give you resources to aid your prayer life.
Bible.com-What does the Bible say about prayer? www.bible.com.
Centering Prayer-Based on Thomas Keating. Christian contemplative prayer. www.centeringprayer.com
Christian Prayer-The Lord’s Prayer is Christ’s model for us all to deepen our communication with Him. www.christian-prayer.net
Healing Prayer-Prayer is witness to the presence of God in our lives. www.healingprayer.org.
Healing Scripture Prayers – Learn how to pray for healing and miracles from Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe. www.healingscripture.com
Prayer of Jabez. Enlarge your territory and increase your impact. http://www.allaboutprayer.org/prayer-of-jabez.htm
Promise Keeps prayer page-World prayer team at the Promise Keepers men’s group www.promisekeepers.org
Seven basic steps to successful fasting and prayer. Destroy the strongholds of evil. www.ccci.org
Walk Thru the Bible-Prayers to get you through your day. www.walkthru.org.
Bible Atlases and Dictionaries
Atlas of Bible Lands (Hammond Inc.)
Oxford Bible Atlas (Oxford University Press)
Smith’s Bible Dictionary (Henderson Press)
The interpreters Dictionary of the Bible (Abingdon Press, multi-volume set)
The New Bible Commentary (Intervarsity Press)
The Expositors’ Bible Commentary (Zodervan, multi-volume set)
Bible Concordances
The Englishman’s Greek Concordance of the New Testament (keyed to words in Strong’s Concordance)
The Englishman’s Hebrew Concordance (keyed to words in Strong’s Concordance)
James Strong, New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990 (Lists each word in the Bible and all the scriptural reference where each word may be found.)
Others Books
Darrell L. Bock, Ed., The Gospels (The Bible knowledge keyword study series) Cook Communication Ministries, Paris, Ontario, 2002.
Donald L. Griggs. The Bible from Scratch. The New Testament for Beginners. Louisville, Westminster John Knox Press, 2003.
Robert C. Girard. Life of Christ, God’s Word for the Biblically-Inept. Starburst Publishers, Lancaster, PA, 2000. www.biblically inept.com.
Linda and Rommell Peters. Praying 9 to 5: Experiencing God in the Workplace. United Souls Books, Bowie, MD, 2007. www.unitedsouldsministries.com
BIBLES:
It is usually valuable to have two or three translations available, one for fast reading, one for more serious study, and one for comparison. Some suggestions for a list of three translations are:
| Reading | Study | Comparison |
| New International Version (NIV) | New International Version (NIV) | |
| Contemporary English Version | New Revised Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| New Century Version | English Standard Version | Revised English Bible |
| New Living Translation | New American Standard Bible | The Message |
